Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Erakovic and Krajicek won in Memphis as did Gulbis, Baghdatis and Bremond. Simon won in Marseille and Safin lost to Clement. Pennetta somehow managed to lose in Bogota but Dulko won, Olaru actually managed to win a match and there was double fault mania in some place that we’re not mentioning due to the boycott.

Henin finally tells why she quit the tour at the height of her success (and plugs her new academy).

Next week it’s the ATP's turn to decide whether to cancel a tournament when Dubai (almost certainly) denies Israel’s Andy Ram a visa to play there. They certainly can’t say it’s not expected. Presumably they will cop out in a flurry of political correctness using phrases like “extremely disappointing”, “measures in place” and “reviewing the situation closely” and do nothing just like the WTA. Anyway Roger won’t be there as he wants time to strengthen his back. Interesting time to call a break instead of playing a tournament paying him a huge appearance fee. Subtle protest Fed? Or is he peeved that maybe some Spaniard might get a bigger cheque? Let’s assume he’s injured – he is a class act.

The Dok vs the Woz in Memphis in an all-star (but first round) match up of epic proportions. Seriously if you only have two marquee players (sorry Victoria) in your tournament you don’t want them playing in the first round, so the organisers have delayed it as long as possible to milk it for all it’s worth. Who will win? Will Australian darling Jelena Dokic continue her miracle comeback and beat the great Dane as she did in Melbourne? Or will Caroline Wozniacki continue her irresistible march towards the top ten by brushing aside all challengers including upstart Aussie qualifiers. Wozniacki must have noted that young gun rival Alize Cornet vaulted over her to number eleven and might (gasp!) grab Radwanska’s top ten spot before her. Time to get your head down and grind out a win. Remember, it’s only the first round.

Both Cornet, who could hit tenth spot if she beats Dementieva and Venus in some other place, and Wozniacki, will have noticed that Pennetta crashed out in Bogota, rather stuffing her chances of top tenning, leaving only Azarenka (in Memphis) to contend. Radwanska lost first round to her sister, but still has a sizeable gap ahead of them all.